


Chocolate Connections

by ScarletCorvid



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 12:56:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12705438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarletCorvid/pseuds/ScarletCorvid
Summary: Claudia would always see that night when Janine came to ease a chocolate craving as the first time they really bonded as sisters.





	Chocolate Connections

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the BSC Easter Exchange. Prompt: "Late night snacks, and possibly acknowledgement from Janine of the pressure their parents put on Claudia."

Saturday nights were Claudia's favorite night of the week. After she'd spent the daytime babysitting or doing a club project or just hanging out with her friends, the nighttime was hers to paint or read into the wee hours. Now that she was thirteen, and after pointing out that her older sister had no weekend bedtime, she was free to spend Friday and Saturday night as she pleased. Well, she had to be in the house and not make too much noise, plus be up at a reasonable time the next morning. But it was still time to herself without babysitting charges, friends or family.

Tonight she was sitting on her bed, reading The Secret of Shadow Ranch. Nancy Drew's adventure was giving her the craving to try her hand at painting horses. First she'd try some sketches, maybe get a book out from the library on horses to get everything right. Without really meaning to, she found herself at her desk, grabbing a piece of paper and working to draw a horse from memory. 

They had knees in the front, Claudia thought as she worked on her sketch, brow furrowed. But in the back they were like elbows...didn't they call those hocks or hacks or something like that? The mane and tail were easy, it was like drawing human hair. But the ears...

A knock on her door silenced the problem of horse ears in her mind. Claudia looked up at her clock, glad to see it was barely one in the morning. She would go to bed as soon as the drawing was done, though maybe earlier if her father was behind the door. He didn't think there was anything you could do after midnight that couldn't be done better during the day. At least her mother had argued the girls needed time to read and relax on the weekends. Sometimes having a librarian for a mother was a good thing. 

"Come in?" She called, turning a little in her desk chair to face the door.

The door opened slowly and her older sister, Janine, slipped into the room. Claudia was more than a little surprised, even more so when Janine closed the door behind her. They got along somewhat better after Mimi's stroke, but sometimes things were still strained between them. Especially when Claudia was having trouble in school, which was often.

"I was wondering if you had a surplus of chocolate." Janine pushed her glasses up her nose. "It would seem I'm running a bit low, and I still have half a paper to finish."

Leave it to Janine to make junk food sound like a lanugage arts excersize. 

"Um, I think so..." Claudia got up from her desk and started rummaging through her room. Twizzlers under some paint tubes in a box under her bed. Jelly Belly jelly beans in one of her hats. Aha! The secret compartment in her jewelry box was just the perfect size to slip in a Hershey bar. She decied it was safe to show her best hiding spot and withdrew an unwrapped chocolate bar from the hidden slit on the bottom of the antique box.

"Tah-dah!" She presented it to her sister with a little smile. 

"Thank you," Janine took the chocolate with a little nod. "Very clever crevice in your jewelry box. Did you modify it?"

Claudia sat down on the bed, pulling a pack of mini peanut butter cups out of the bottom drawer of her nightstand. Suddenly she had a craving for chocolate too and it gave her a moment to figure out what on earth Janine was saying. 

"No," She began slowly, popping one peanut butter cup into her mouth. "It was like that when I found it at the thrift store."

"A wise purchase." Her sister nodded in return, peeling back the wrapper on the chocolate bar.

A silence settled over them that was neither easy nor uneasy. There was a lot of that sort of thing lately, but Claudia decided it was better than the arguing. She crossed her legs and gave Janine another little smile.

"So...what's your paper about?" She probably wouldn't understand, but it was a good conversation starter. Or argument starter, if she didn't watch herself.

Janine settled herself on the desk chair, biting into the chocolate bar. "It's about statistics on the shift of enviromental concern in government funding. Unless it interests you specifically, it can be a bit dry. I am trying to make it more interesting for a wide audience, but I don't think they will ever make a movie about it."

Claudia chuckled, surprised that Janine was trying to have a sense of humor about her studies, which she normally took very seriously. Perhaps they were growing up. It was nice her sister wasn't rubbing her nose into the fact she was the dumb one, though admittedly she only understood half of what Janine had just said.

"I was working on a sketch." She shrugged, feeling a bit embarrased about how simple her activity was compared to Janine's.

"I noticed," Janine nodded and smiled a little, turning to look at the drawing on the desk. "I think you have an excellent grasp of confirmation. Did you do that just from memory?"

"Actually, I did." Claudia brightened at the compliment. "I thought they would make an interesting subject for a still life."

"Indeed." Her sister nodded her approval.

Another silence settled over them, but this one was easier than the first time. Each sister was lost in enjoying a little late night sugar and attempting to have a moment of bonding. Claudia was glad they were making the effort now. Maybe someday they would be like their mother and Peaches, their crazy aunt who was completely unlike her sister. Despite being different, they were very close.

"You know, Claudia..." Janine pushed her glasses up her nose again, a nervous habit of hers. "You really do have artistic talent."

Claudia stayed silent, waiting to hear a lecture on how it was hard to make a living as an artist so she better start taking her schoolwork more serious. Or that artistic talent alone didn't give you the skills you needed to get into an Ivy League school. Of course she'd think that way, all she had to do was glance at a textbook and she got straight A's. It must be nice to be that smart. 

"I think, perhaps, we all have different sets of abilities. And it's not always fair to expect everyone to be artistic or academically gifted or physically attractive." She continued. "Sometimes I think our parents are not very fair to you on that matter. Yes, good grades are important, but I've seen the way you struggle sometimes and I cannot help but think that you should be more encouraged to use the gifts you have instead of ones that you may or may not be able to acquire."

At first Claudia wanted to jump in and say she wasn't stupid. That's what Janine seemed to be saying. But for some reason, maybe the good feeling that had come from them doing a little bonding, she sat back and listened to her sisters words. And slowly it became obvious to her that those were the words she'd waited to hear for a very long time.

"I wish you could explain that to them." Claudia finally spoke, feeling tears prick her eyes. "I'm not stupid. I'm really not. But it seems like either I can't pay attention or I don't understand...and their solution is always just to study harder." 

"No, you are not stupid in the least." Janine agreed with a prim shake of her head. "And I think Mom and Dad know that, but they apply it in a way that doesn't help the situation." She took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. "Perhaps I should give them my perspective. I don't know if it will help or hinder, but it is worth a try."

"Thank you," She managed a half-hearted smile and moved to hug her sister. "You're a tough act to follow, you know."

Janine gave a bittersweet smile. "It was never my intention for our parents to compare us, Claudia. We both have our abilities, and I couldn't even begin to draw or paint or do any of the things you do so well. And I think that's perfectly fine. Perhaps even better that way, that we cannot be easily compared." 

It was the closest to an apology Claudia had a right to ask her sister to give. After all, it wasn't Janine's fault their parents made things difficult. It was more their fault than the sisters that they didn't get along very well sometimes. Even then it was because they wanted the best for their daughters. 

Some things would change, some things would stay the same, but Claudia would always see that night when Janine came to ease a chocolate craving as the first time they really bonded as sisters.


End file.
